de ‧ ride /dɪˈraɪd/ BrE AmE verb [transitive] formal
[ Date: 1500-1600 ; Language: Latin ; Origin: deridere , from ridere 'to laugh' ]
to make remarks or jokes that show you think someone or something is silly or useless SYN mock ⇨ derisive :
You shouldn’t deride their efforts.
deride somebody as something
The party was derided as totally lacking in ideas.
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THESAURUS
▪ mock formal to laugh at and say unkind things about a person, institution, belief etc, to show that you do not have a high opinion of them. Mock is a formal word - in everyday English people usually say make fun of :
The press mocked his attempts to appeal to young voters.
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She was mocked by other pupils in her class.
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You shouldn’t mock the afflicted! (=you should not make fun of people who cannot help having problems - used especially ↑ ironically , when really you think it is funny too)
▪ make fun of somebody/something to make someone or something seem stupid by making unkind jokes about them:
Peter didn’t seem to realize that they were making fun of him.
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It used to be fashionable to make fun of the European Parliament.
▪ laugh at somebody/something to make unkind or funny remarks about someone or something, because they seem stupid or strange:
I don’t want the other kids to laugh at me.
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People would laugh at the idea nowadays.
▪ poke fun at somebody/something to make someone or something seem silly by making jokes about them, especially in a way that is funny but not really cruel:
a TV series that regularly poked fun at the government
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He’s in no position to poke fun at other people’s use of English!
▪ ridicule formal to make unkind remarks that make someone or something seem stupid:
Catesby ridiculed his suggestion.
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His ideas were widely ridiculed at the time.
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Scientists ridiculed him for doubting the existence of the greenhouse effect.
▪ deride formal to make remarks that show you think that something is stupid or useless - often used when you think that the people who do this are wrong:
Some forms of alternative medicine – much derided by doctors – have been shown to help patients.
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the system that Marxists previously derided as ‘bourgeois democracy’